Improved pile-driver



@5,35 AMW@ @atwtiiiira ALFRED SMITH AND J. W. GALBRAITH, OF SEDALIA, MISSGURI.

` Letters Patent No. 87,010, dated February 16, 1869. I

IMPRovED PILE-DRIVER.

The Scheduley referred to in these. Letters Patent and making part of the Lame.

To all whom it may concern Be it known lthat we, ALFRED SMITH and J. W. GAL- .BRAITH, of Sedalia, in the county ofPettis, and State of Missouri, have invented a new and improved Pile- Driver; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a front sectional elevation of our improved pile-driver, through the line :c x, lig. 2.

Figure 2 is a side sectional elevation of the same, through the line y y, fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a horizontal section of the same, through the line z' Z, fig. l.

Figures 4 and 5 are corresponding detail views of the hollow driver.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

The object of this invention is to provide a piledriving machine which is simple and effective, and by means of which piles can be driven in a rapid and expeditious manner, also evenly, and at any reasonable angle of inclination with the ground.

It combines a number of advantageous features, which, together with devices perfecting the whole, will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the drawings- A A is the bed-frame, mounted on trucks B, the axle of the front trucks being pivoted on the king-bolt, arid provided with a tongue in any suitable manner, as that shown.

G C C O are the derricks, or guide-posts, for the drivers E, andare sui-mounted bya single cross-beam, D.

These derricks are not affixed rigidly to the bedframe,- but arise from a rocking bolster, G, the lower face of which is convex, the middle point of the con- Vex face resting on one of the side timbers, A, of the bedrame, or upon a saddle-plate affixed to the middle point ofthe said frame.

The object of this rocking bolster is to give the required lateral incline to the derricks, and it is provided with set-screws, a a, at each end, which would, in practice, tit in hollow threaded plates let into the bolster, and their points would bear against plates on the side timber A.

The requisite front or rear inclination of the derricks is permitted by clevises b b, fitting over the rounded ends of the bolster, and alxed to the side timber A, by means of screws passing through slots in the clevises and into the said side timber, as shown.

These slots and screws enable the clevises to be adjusted to suit the lateral inclination of the derricks, while the said clevises permit the front or rear inclination of the derricks, as before stated. -The derricks, are, steadied by braces H, slotted at their upper ends, and clamped to the derricks by screws through the slots, while their lower ends are pivoted to the opposite of the bed-frame, as shown, by stout pivot-bolts. I

By these devices any reasonable incline can'be given to the derricks, when the nature of the work requires such inclination, as in driving piles, as is frequently the .ase.

The drivers E are alternately raised and dropped by ropes or chains, running over pulleys c c, and by selfacting clutches d.

` The ropes lead down to drums I, to which they are attached.

These drums have bearings in the cross-timbers A', and their shafts are provided with short bevel-pnions, e, which engage with a horizontal bevel-gear wheel, J, arranged between the drums, as shown.

This gear-wheel is oscillated by a lever, K, affixed thereto in any suitable manner, as shown.

The self-acting clutches d are connected with crossheads j, which work on the same guide-plates, g, as the drivers, and serve to keep the clutches in line with the rings, or loops i, of the drivers.

The clutches are levers having heavy hook-ends, which catch on the said loops fi, and are disengaged therefrom by their arms l encountering the cross-bars j as the drivers arrive at the upper part of the derricks.

L is a shaft, arranged across the lower parts of the derriclrs, and having bearings thereon.l

It is provided with cam-arms, m,and a lever-arm, a, for actuating it.

The arms on. serve a twofold purpose: first, they serve to guide or steady the piles M, and second, to lift the drivers therefrom when the `machine is to be moved forward to the next pile.

'The axle of the rear trucks bearsa ratchet-wheel, o, and a pawl, p, pivoted in the adjacent cross-timbers, engages with it.

This pawl is connected with a lever, r, also pivoted to the cross-timber, and its opposite end is connected, by a rod, q, with short arm on the shaft L, as shown.`

These parts are so arranged, with referenceto the armsvm, that when the latter are raised vertically, for moving the machine to another position, the ratchetpawl p will be lifted from the ratchet-wheel, and the rear trucks left free to move, but when tsaidaris m are horizontal, andacting as guides, the ratchetpawlis in engagement with ratchet-wheel, thus holding the machine steady.

S S are rollers, arranged in the bed-frame, in contact with the upper side of the rim of the gear-wheel J, to keep'it engaged with the pinions.

Thus, by simply turning. the shaft L, one or both drivers are lifted from the pile or piles by the arms m, which are thus raised clear of the piles, While the ratchet is freed from the pawl, and the whole machine left free Vto .ove forward, and after the machine has arrived at the ext piles to be driven, the shaft L, turned backward, buses the rear trucks B to be locked by the paw] and .tchet, while the arms are lowered to steady the piles, 1d be out ofthe way ofthe drivers.

N are buffers, of any tough, yielding substance, to nit the descent of the piles, so that the tops of the `iven .piles may be all even with each other. They ay consist of any suitable material which will receive le impact of the drivers without undue or injurious nncussion, as wood surmounted with rubber; or a insely-pressed cushion of any fibrous material, or rtain kinds of tough, elastic-wood, may be employed. These buers rest on the bolster between the guide- )sts of the deriicks, and their height is arranged in 1e proportion to the height ofthe derricks. Y

O, fig. 4, is a drive-r, of metal or stone, having a cavv, P, in the base, for the reception of a short plug, hard, tough wood, as elm, which sustains the imtot force of the driver, and imparts it to the pile, thus leventingthc reaction of the impact force on the driver, ld obtaining what is known as the dead-stroke blow,

1. The'arrangement of' the oscillating gearwheel J, the pinions e, drums I," the two pile-driver derricks O, and the accessory bed-frame A A', as herein described, for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of the rocking bolster Gr, supporting one or more derricks C, with the straps b, setscrews a., and supports H, substantially as described, for thepurpose specied.

3. The shaft L, having cam-arms m and lever-ham` dle n, substantially as described, in combination with a single or double pile-driver, all as set forth.

4. The `driver O, having' a cavity, `l?, for the reception of a wooden impact-plug, in combination with a single or double pile-driving machine, substantially as set forth.

The ratchet-wheel o and pawl p, arranged to operate substantially as described, in combination with the shaft L, and of a pile-driving machine, all as set forth.

6. The buffer N, of any elastic wood or rubber, and wood or other equivalent material, in combination, substantiall y as described, employed to receive the impact of the driver E, for the purpose set forth.

ALFRED SMITH. J. W. GALBRAITH.

Witnesses:

F. ORANDALL, A. B. THOMAS. 

